application debug with softdevice

[sowmya]

Hello,

After searching in forum, I understood that we cannot debug application with softdevice unless PRIMASK bit is set.

But in my application there is a requirement that to transmit data received from uart to connected devices using RADIO. If I set PRIMASK bit I will not get BLE interrupts. How can I debug my complete application ?

Does anyone have tried to debug application with softdevice?

Regards, Sowmya

[Susheel Nuguru]

Yes you can debug your BLE application, but not like a normal one. It will be tedious. Imagine your BLE application is something like this which you want to debug

1) err_code = my_func1();
2) err_code = my_func2();
3) err_code = sd_xxx
4) err_code = some_other_function();

void some_other_function()
{
   some logic here;
   some other logic here;
   sd_xxx_call();
}

now you can set your breakpoint at 1) and start the debugger. Once your breakpoint is hit and you set the PRIMASK register, you can step you code from 1) to 2) and then from 2) to 3) but you cannot go any further. At this point you should remove the breakpoint from 1) and put it at 4)

Then when you restart the debugging session again, then your break point will hit allowing the softdevice to complete its action for 3)

after you hit the breakpoint 4) you can even step inside the function some_other_function() until you hit the sd_xxx_call.

if you are waiting for any events and want to debug the BLE events, then put the breakpoints where you receive the events. It is possible to debug your application, but the process is cumbersome and tedious. It will get impossible to write complex applications if we cant debug BLE application at all.

[sowmya]

This may help me debug my application. Thank you for the support.